Gangs loot trees, burn trunks in Kuakata forest

Gangs of tree looters have continued felling trees of Gangamoti Reserve Forest and the nearby eco-park in Kuakata beach area under the district.

During a visit there on Sunday, this correspondent found hundreds of trunks of looted trees including babla, koroi, chaila, kewra, bain and tamarisk.

The looters fell both live trees and the ones uprooted by tidal surges.

They cut trees throughout the night, sources said, adding that the logs are sold in the black market and transported by trawlers and country boats.

To destroy evidence, they often burn the trunks using petrol and other fuels, locals said.

"We often see fire in the forest but dare not come out to prevent the act in fear of the criminals. Forest men hardly guard the forest at night," said a local seeking anonymity.

Gangamoti Reserve Forest stretching about eight kilometres was created by planting babla and koroi trees while chaila, kewra and bain grew there naturally, forest department sources said.

But about one-third of the forest land has already gone into the Bay due to the onslaught of natural disasters like cyclones, tidal surges and floods.

Forest department planted mangrove trees to create new forest on 32 hectares of land in 2013-14 fiscal year to save the reserve forest from erosion, forest officials said.

"We have only six forest guards and it is too tough for them to guard the large areas of forest. Gangs including local fishermen often loot trees at night. I have filed four cases under the Forest Act accusing unidentified gangs with the local police station over the matter," said Parvez Ahmed, beat officer of Gangamoti Reserve Forest.

Md Faruque Hossain, Mohipur Forest Range officer, said, "I have joined here recently. I don't know about burning of tree trunks. We will take legal action against the gangs who are allegedly involved in the matter."